title: Purification and characterization of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii chloroplast glutamyl-tRNA synthetase, a natural misacylating enzyme.
abstract: Glutamyl-tRNA synthetase from Chlamydomonas reinhardtii was purified by sequential column chromatography on DEAE-cellulose, phosphocellulose, Mono Q, and Mono S. The apparent molecular mass of the protein when analyzed under both denaturing conditions (sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis) and nondenaturing conditions (rate zonal sedimentation on glycerol gradients) was 62,000 Da; this indicates that the active enzyme is a monomer. The purified glutamyl-tRNA synthetase was identified as the chloroplast enzyme by its tRNA charging specificity. Reversed-phase chromatography of unfractionated C. reinhardtii tRNA resolved four peaks of glutamate acceptor RNA when assayed with the purified enzyme. The enzyme can also glutamylate Escherichia coli tRNA(2Glu), but not cytoplasmic tRNA(Glu) from yeast or barley. In addition, the enzyme misacylates chloroplast tRNA(Gln) with glutamate. A similar mischarging phenomenon has been demonstrated for the barley chloroplast enzyme (Schön, A., Kannangara, C.G., Gough, S., and Söll, D. (1988) Nature 331, 187-190) and for Bacillus subtilis glutamyl-tRNA synthetase (Proulx, M., Duplain, L., Lacoste, L., Yaguchi, M., and Lapointe, J. (1983) J. Biol. Chem. 258, 753-759).
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut 06511.
authors.forename: M W
authors.initials: MW
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Jahn
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Schön
authors.forename: G P
authors.initials: GP
authors.lastname: O'Neill
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Söll
mesh_terms: D000215:Acylation; D000604:Amino Acyl-tRNA Synthetases / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D002696:Chlamydomonas / Q000201:enzymology*; D002736:Chloroplasts / Q000201:enzymology*; D002848:Chromatography, DEAE-Cellulose; D002850:Chromatography, Gel; D002851:Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid; D002852:Chromatography, Ion Exchange; D005975:Glutamate-tRNA Ligase / Q000302:isolation & purification* / Q000378:metabolism; D007700:Kinetics; D008970:Molecular Weight; D012343:RNA, Transfer / Q000302:isolation & purification
chemical_list: D012343:RNA, Transfer; D000604:Amino Acyl-tRNA Synthetases; D005975:Glutamate-tRNA Ligase